{"id":1879,"date":"2015-11-15T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-15T19:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1879"},"modified":"2015-11-12T19:50:53","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T19:50:53","slug":"chronic-illness-just-starting-out-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/11\/chronic-illness-just-starting-out-part-three.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Just Starting Out – Part Three"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second<\/a>Allowing people into our life with the diagnosis of a serious chronic illness is an important step to building the support system that will sustain us and provide us with a way to “give back” to the goodness from which we benefit. This\u00a0can be very hard, especially if we experience loss among the social circle we had previously relied upon. But even as we feel a deep sting, a kind of betrayal, from so-called friends who turn away from us, we are probably better off if we discover our true friends sooner rather than later. Chronic illness is just that – chronic, ongoing — and if someone cannot stand being around us in the early stages, just after diagnosis, their negative influence can have a deep impact upon us, our life, and our spirit moving forward, too.<\/p>\n

It helped me tremendously to focus my limited social energy on people who truly cared. I realized I couldn’t control people’s emotions, nor could I be a kind of therapist helping someone “deal with” the way my life had to change. So, as much as it hurt, as as often as the tears did fall, I turned more firmly to only a few friends, a few people whose emotional capacity was deep, comforting, and positive. And, I turned to God.<\/p>\n

Of course, I’d always had a profound prayer life, a deep faith. But in the early days of my diagnosis with lupus, I carried on a running dialogue with the Creator, sometimes running out of specific words, never running out of the desire to bring Him into the exam room, the pharmacy waiting line, the wig shop – everywhere. Thus inviting God into all parts of my life, He opened others up to tremendous, lasting friendships with me, too. And these, added to those who were with me before and after the diagnosis, have made for a rich, inspiring, and wonderful social circle!<\/p>\n

It is crucial to invite at least one very positive person into your immediate life after diagnosis, even bringing him or her into a doctor visit or two. We need not face chronic illness alone. And as we find those true friends to accompany us, and God to give us inner strength, we will find ourselves on even firmer footing for the journey ahead.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allowing people into our life with the diagnosis of a serious chronic illness is an important step to building the support system that will sustain us and provide us with a way to “give back” to the goodness from which we benefit. This\u00a0can be very hard, especially if we experience loss among the social circle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,3,360,43,1242,4,1047,578,379,1420,1245,1236,1247],"tags":[29,750,1951,1950,1952],"class_list":["post-1879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-good","category-goodness","category-lupus-2","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-rising-above-tragedy","tag-chronic-illness","tag-coping-with-chronic-illness","tag-god-with-us-in-illness","tag-loved-ones-and-illness","tag-positive-attitude"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Just Starting Out - Part Three - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bring someone with you in life with chronic illness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/11\/chronic-illness-just-starting-out-part-three.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Just Starting Out - Part Three - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bring someone with you in life with chronic illness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/11\/chronic-illness-just-starting-out-part-three.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-15T19:38:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-12T19:50:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/10\/Second-close-up-of-picture-257x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronic Illness: Just Starting Out - 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1879"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1880,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1879\/revisions\/1880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}